Zero-Infinity Free-Flow+ Review

Conclusion

Well all the right ingredients are there, two large fin stacks, each with 47 Aluminium fins, ducts and dimples to aid in heat transfer, 3x 1200rpm 140mm fans, additional heat sink on the contact plate, 5x8mm direct contact heat pipes, and with Purple bladed fans the Free Flow+ also has what could be called "Individual" styling.  So how have Zero Infinity put these top class ingredients together

Quality wise things aren't great, not actually bad, although the "bent" towers were a bit of a concern, it's more that I wasn't left with the feeling that I had a quality product in my hands, more like I was holding something with every item sourced from the lowest OEM bidder.

Sadly my feeling for the cooler were not improved by the build process.  I'm not going to rant here, if you want to get the full flavour go back and have a look at section 5 of the review.  I'll summarise by saying this was the worst cooler install i've yet done (and that inclused the beQuiets).

So with all the above said I rather had my hopes pinned on the Free Flow+ putting in a truly stellar performance.  I think I would be willing to forgive the above points if it had it where it mattered.  Sadly however, it didn't.  Not by a long chalk.  The list of smaller, and at a smidgen under £60, cheaper coolers that better it at both 4.0GHz and 4.2GHz is long and distinguished.  In use it's also on the noisy side (suspiciously dB(A) figures for the fans are hard to come by), but if I were to say it was clearly audible over the noise of my open Antec Skeleton system sitting closer to me than it was then you'll get the idea.  Throw in that the size of the cooler may cause clearance issues with RAM and case sides as well as the rear fan and things are far from Rosy.

I never like to give a bad review, but on this occasion I really am struggling to find much to say about the Free Flow+ that would encourage you to select it for your system.  Perhaps if you're looking for something that little bit different, with the colour Purple certainly being one that you don't come across very often then it may hold something of an appeal, but really I'm finding it hard to think of anything else.  There are great coolers out there, at great prices.  This isn't one of them.

You can discuss you thoughts on this review in the OC3D forums.